Cyborgs: short incursions into Science-Fiction literature Olivier Simioni publié dans "CSI communications", 31(1), 2007, pp. 25-28 Computer Society of India Introduction Cyborg , a novel by American Science-Fiction author Martin Caidin was published in 1972. In 1974 the novel was adapted for a television serial and gained a certain renown. Indeed, one might easily remember the adventures of Steve Austin, the Six million dollar man . However, such a superhero figure seems today completely out of date. In 2003, Der letzte seiner Art , a novel by Science-Fiction author Andreas Eschbach, somehow sanctioned the end of the cyborg as a hero, his decline but also his return to humanity. Indeed, the cyborg is no longer a superhuman endowed with stupefying powers and capable of all achievements. He’s rather become a suffering man, still extraordinarily powerful but whose cogwheels are seized up, getting rusty, and whose life is becoming increasingly painful. This evolution shows to what extent Science-Fiction literature is not homogenous. Although often despised, this literary genre can approach the issue of the development of science and technology in an adult, serious and original perspective. The specific structure that characterises novels also offers a different though not less pertinent approach than science. By bringing humanness and often political aspects into the reflection about science and technology, Science-Fiction literature is able to adopt a different perspective on these matters and it puts forward questionings that are often neglected. This is precisely what we are about to endeavour here. Our task is not to enumerate Science-Fiction studies on cyborgs. We will rather aim at choosing a few relevant works, which will allow us to develop original questions about this new figure of humanity. We will also leave to others the duty to proceed to a genealogy of the cyborg in fiction. This could easily date back to 1940 (to the superhero figures that are, in the United States, Captain America , who is transformed by a serum in order to fight against the Nazis, and one of the associates of Captain Future , scientist Simon Wright, a human brain integrated into a robot). Science Fiction literature: a starting point for reflection Science Fiction has often been considered a minor genre of literature. However, an increasing number of works show that Science Fiction is not just a mirror, more or less entertaining, of social representations in a given period of time. Its relationship to reality is complex. Sometimes, its intuitive approach, taken over by the specific structure of a fictional narrative, gives a surprisingly perceptive survey of certain social tendencies, should it be in literature or cinema. One could refer to studies which have been undertaken at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), compiled by Guido (2006) and Haver & Gyger (2002) as well as to a whole body of relatively recent scientific literature. Such research provides a fascinating outlook on the possibilities offered by Science Fiction to researchers who, without any prejudice, take the time to uncover works that are sometimes difficult to grasp but which conceal an important potential regarding sociological or anthropological reflection. As examples, we can cite Featherstone and Burrows (1995) dealing mostly with the cyberpunk current, and Bukatman (1993), who offers fascinating insights into the discrepancies between reality and virtuality . We could also consider Breton’s works (1995) which greatly contributed to the history of artificial creatures (from the Golem to Isaac Asimov’s robots, and Dr. Frankenstein’s monster). However, it is not our purpose to give an exhaustive bibliography which would soon become daunting. In my point of view, it is judicious to consider Science-Fiction like a "detour", as French anthropologist Georges Balandier (1985) expresses it. Indeed, in order to make the most of the whole potential given by Science-Fiction, we are forced to go beyond its simple status of an object of knowledge that one must dissect and analyze. However, it is out of the question to put Science-Fiction and scientific discourses on the same level. Their argumentative constraints are obviously not similar and fiction offers a level of narrative freedom which has no place in science. For the researcher wanting to understand social changes, particularly those linked to the development of science and technology, an incursion into Science-Fiction proves a very fruitful source of original ideas and new relationships. Science-Fiction often manages to link things that one could not have immediately imagined being together. In a previous article, I explored cyberpunk novels such as William Gibson’s in order to show that the multiple 1 transformations of the human body (electronic implants, genetics, etc.) and its disembodiment in cyberspace could be compared with the high demand of flexibility in the contemporary business world. A similar approach allows Arnold (1998) to show that the film series Terminator , which notably present the evolution of humanoid robots, can be paralleled with the transformations of the industrial model of Fordist production. Such an alienating but reassuring model leads to another one, whose production becomes increasingly flexible and fast and which worries American workers like those of the automobile industry. We can now focus on the two novels cited in our introduction. Admittedly, as a detour, only Eschbach’s novel deserves the attention of anyone seeking high literary qualities in a work of literature. In opposition, Caidin’s novel is, at this level, very poor, but in my opinion, the comparison of both reveals something new concerning the current studies on cyborgs. Two perspectives on the cyborg Though of poor literary quality, Martin Caidin’s novel is of interest because it probably influenced a great deal of the representations that one has of the cyborg nowadays, i.e. a human being whose limbs and other body parts (eyes, for instance) are replaced by electronic prostheses. Such artefacts would increase the physical abilities of the modified subject. However, considering the scientific article that coined the term "cyborg" ( cybernetic organism , Kline & Clynes, 1960), we can notice that the emphasis is mainly put on aspects we can call pharmacological . Indeed, it was mainly a matter of modifying body chemistry by using various sorts of products, medicines, stimulants, etc. The first goal was to allow the human body to adapt and explore this new kind of environment: the extra-terrestrial space. It is of course much more spectacular to narrate the adventure of a man who can record images with his eye-camera or who can run a hundred meters in three seconds. Such a choice is made in Cyborg , in 1972. The novel has a utopian dimension. The project leading to the repairing of Steve Austin (a fighter pilot victim of a terrible accident) and to his transformation into a cyborg is a total success. Sent on a mission by the American Army, he reaches all his goals and the novel finishes with a happy-end, him falling in love with a charming secret agent. Everything is going beautifully. The novel eventually tells the success-story of a new weapon belonging to the United States once more fighting against the communist enemy. This new weapon, although human, allows science to succeed in a flawless project. Things become much more interesting thirty years later with Andreas Eschbach’s novel. Explicitly inspired by the figure of Steve Austin, the German novelist tells about Duane Fitzgerald’s daily difficulties as a retired cyborg of the American army, who is discreetly established in a village situated on the Irish coast in northern Europe. In fact, a negative perspective is given: if Fitzgerald is the "last representative of his species", it means that the cyborg’s creation project completely failed. Although capable of exceptional achievements, the different cyborgs have been forced to retire or died precociously because the requisite technology has never been sufficiently mastered. Computer bugs and system breakdowns that paralysed or killed these soldiers, guinea pigs of the American army, are innumerable. It is not our purpose to list the various episodes leading the secret services to try to get rid of this last living cyborg, bothering because he proved the failure of a project that must be kept secret. On the contrary, it is much more interesting to describe Duane Fitzgerald’s daily life. Indeed, Andreas Eschbach’s cyborg is no superhuman but rather a simple man with all the ensuing physiological and psychological constraints. One must try to imagine his face, distorted by the weight of his bionic eye, much heavier than his "normal" remaining eye. He eats tasteless porridge because his intestines have been cut and shortened in order to implant an "onboard" computer. He is frozen in full action by a system breakdown as the software of a computer with a bug would be. One must imagine this invalid and pre-retired cyborg being lonely, reading Seneca [1] when suffering from bouts of melancholia. One must also notice the impossibility of any sexual life, because Fitzgerald’s physical strength would be too dangerous if he lost emotional control. Besides, the beginning of the novel sets things up at once; Duane Fitzgerald is confined to bed due to a momentary paralysis. In brief, the cyborg isn’t working as expected. Therefore, there are numerous factors preventing a cyborg from being happier than any other human being, despite technological "improvements". In a certain way, one can say that the body resists its transformation. From the transformation to the disappearance of the body? I wish to make a "detour" through William Gibson’s Neuromancer not only because this work is a major influence on my own reflections, but also because it covers a broader setting. In Neuromancer , Duane [1] Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca) (ca.